Monday, August 17, 2020

Last Call For An Orange Man With Mail Pattern Badness, Con't

Looks like Westy was right about Postmaster General Louis DeJoy facing House Democrats next week.

I haven't looked into this, but since the Postal Service is a quasi-autonomous organization (DeJoy isn't directly appointed by the President), it ought to (in theory) be even more illegal for Trump to "block" their testimony - not saying he won't try, but saying that a friendly judge is more likely to rule on an emergency motion to enforce a subpoena if it comes to that, because there's no serious argument that he can't testify.

Looks like Dejoy's lawyer has advised him the same.  Hooray for enlightened self-interest!

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has agreed to House Democrats’ request for him to testify next week about his controversial Postal Service changes that have raised hackles around the nation, according to two people familiar with the matter.

On Sunday, Democrats moved up a request for DeJoy to testify to Monday, Aug. 24, calling it an “urgent” matter. The Oversight and Reform Committee hearing is likely to be tense, with Democrats loudly objecting to changes that have slowed mail delivery in numerous parts of the country amid President Donald Trump’s calls to restrict the use of mail-in ballots for the November election.

A number of Democrats have called on him to resign, and moderate House member Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), even said that he wanted DeJoy, a major Republican Party fundraiser, arrested by the House sergeant at arms if he didn’t agree to testify.

“Over the past several weeks, there have been startling new revelations about the scope and gravity of operational changes you are implementing at hundreds of postal facilities without consulting adequately with Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission, or the Board of Governors,” House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) wrote to DeJoy on Sunday, giving him a deadline of Monday to respond to the testimony invitation.

“Your testimony is particularly urgent given the troubling influx of reports of widespread delays at postal facilities across the country—as well as President Trump’s explicit admission last week that he has been blocking critical coronavirus funding for the Postal Service in order to impair mail-in voting efforts for the upcoming elections in November.”

Maloney also has requested the testimony of Mike Duncan, chairman of the Postal Service’s Board of Governors. Duncan also agreed to testify, according to a person familiar with the matter. Duncan is a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

A spokesperson for the Postal Service didn’t immediately have a comment.

We'll see what happens on Monday.  It's possible that Trump will move to block the testimony still, but as Westy pointed out, Trump may not be able to. DeJoy's cooperation is probably a very good idea on his part, because the second Trump realizes wrecking the post office in public is hurting him, he'll throw DeJoy under the postal truck.

Should be fun next week.
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